Since the iPhone's release, Apple has been silent about new iPod/iPhone designs. It appears that Apple is about to break its silence on Sept 5th and release at least one new iPod.

Apple made a special announcement, on Wednesday, August 29, which has the internet abuzz with rumors. Apple announced that it is inviting the press to a "special event" in San Francisco.

The invitation was titled "The beat goes on," and includes an image of a man, silhouetted and dancing with an iPod, in the graphic style of the iconic iPod commercials, on the cover of an album displayed in the style of
Apple's "Cover Flow" technology, which allows users to flip through their music on their iPhones or desktop computers.

Forbes speculates this message likely indicates that Apple is preparing to release one or more new iPod models.

The iPod has been Apple's commercial wonder kid in recent years and the announcement of a new iPod is critical to Apple's continued success. Forbes elaborates:

Sales of iPods alone accounted for 29.1% of Apple's sales of $5.4
billion for the quarter ending June 30. And if anything, that
understates the iPod's importance. The tiny media players helped Apple
crank out $608 million in sales of digital music and accessories.

For weeks now, the internet has been inundated with reports and tech blog posts claiming to have "inside" or "leaked" information on the new iPods, even before this announcement.

The LA Times reports having interviewed two unnamed music executives who claimed that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, revealed to them his plan to build a vastly improved version of the iPod with a larger video screen, a
touch-screen interface and other features similar to Apple's iPhone. These representatives asked the Times not to name them, due to their confidentiality agreement.

Further reports of this full screen video iPod appeared on the blog ThinkSecret, which cites a source at Apple as confirming the existence of this iPod, but refuted previous reports of a 3.5" screen width, mentioning that it would actually have a 4" screen.

Additionally, a report by
the blog Infinite Loop claims to have information from sources in the "far east" who
allegedly corroborate the rumor of a full screen iPod, and
additionally claim to have worked with a revised traditional screen
iPod. The sources claim both new iPods run on a modified version of OS
X. The possibility of new iPod models running OS X is a widely
speculated possibility for these new iPods.

Infinite Loop also points out that the September 5th announcement comes
almost on the anniversary of the introduction of the original iPod
Nano, 2 years ago on September 7, 2005.

Finally, one more rumor about the iPod Nano is it is getting shrunk. This rumor stems from a purportedly leaked design shot, dubbed the "fat nano," which was posted on the tech blog Gizmodo. Apple's legal team asked the site to take the shot down. Gizmodo, has since confirmed the shot was indeed Apple intellectual property. The site, following Apple's orders, took the shot down and replaced it with a shot they rendered in Photoshop, which looks identical to the original, in their opinion.

Despite all these rumors and reports, the only official news from Apple is that there is none--yet. The official word from Apple will be coming on September 5. Until then, be discerning, as many of the rumors out there may be just that, rumors. The article in Forbes warns us not to get too excited, Steve Jobs once held a similar press conference to announce the launch of a set of iPod speakers. Stay tuned, though, because the official announcement is coming fast, and it may be big.

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